Luca Yanarella, 4, of Saco, shows off the strawberries he picked at Maxwell’s Farm in Cape Elizabeth last month, before the farm closed. Ben McCanna/Staff Photographer

CAPE ELIZABETH — The stretch of land next to Route 77, host to bustling crowds and ruby red strawberries mere weeks ago, was vacant this week, only a sign declaring “closed for the season” occupying the farm’s dirt path.

Maxwell’s Farm, run by Lois and Bill Bamford, closed its pick-your-own strawberry season early because of fruit flies that damaged the crops. Then, on Sunday, the couple announced on their website that this past summer was the farm’s final season after 51 years.

The news shocked many in and around Cape Elizabeth, where Maxwell’s is an institution in the coastal community and part of a farming heritage that dates back to the eighteenth century.

But the farm closure also is a part of a larger trend in the state. According to federal data, from 2017 to 2022, nearly 600 farms shut down operations in Maine and over 82,000 acres of farmland were lost. The numbers of farms and farmland acreage in Maine in 2022 were at the lowest point since 1997.

The closure of Maxwell’s was a blow to locals like Ann Marie Miliard, a Cape Elizabeth native who earlier this week was enjoying ice cream with her grandchildren at Kettle Cove Ice Cream and Shack, which uses berries from the farm to make its strawberry ice cream each summer. The family had planned to pick berries again this year, but went to Maxwell’s one day too late, after the farm already had closed.

“I’m very sad about it,” Miliard said. “It’s been a generational thing for our family. We have multiple strawberry-stained T-shirts at home.”

The Bamfords announced the closure on Facebook, saying it was a wrenching decision driven by several longer-term factors and not the early closure this season or the damage from fruit flies. The operators said they were still processing the decision and were not ready to be interviewed for this story.

It’s not yet clear what will happen to the farm, which includes two plots of land: 24 acres on Two Lights Road owned by Lois (Maxwell) Bamford and 18.14 acres off Route 77 that is leased from the Sprague Corporation.

Arden Mewshaw, 15, of Portland, picks strawberries at Maxwell’s Farm in Cape Elizabeth last month. The farm announced this week that is closing after five decades. Ben McCanna/Staff Photographer

A 76-acre parcel on Spurwink Road is also owned by members of the Maxwell family but is separate from the strawberry farm and was conserved in perpetuity in 2020.

Claudia Richards, president of the Sprague Corporation, said the company found out about the business closure when “everyone else did.”

“We haven’t made any other plans for the property yet. We just have to think about what uses that property could have,” Richards said.

When asked about the possibility of developing the land, Richards said, “I don’t know. We haven’t had any discussions in terms of our board or board of directors.”

There were about 7,000 farms in Maine in 2022, according to the federal data, down from more than 8,100 farms in 2012.

Tori Jackson, agriculture program leader at the University of Maine Cooperative Extension, said the high costs of production and labor, specifically housing for laborers, are playing a role in the statewide farm closures.

Jackson also said adapting to climate change is costly for farmers, some needing to ensure their crops can survive both frosts and heat waves. Jackson said some farmers opt to get crop insurance, but that it is also expensive.

“We’re obviously dealing with climate change and the amount of money and time and learning you need to do, the adaptation strategies, are pretty extreme,” Jackson said. “Even if we get a day with really heavy rain, that can be extremely damaging.”

Jackson said many factors influence a farm’s vulnerability to closure, but that Maine farms have found various tactics to reduce the risk. Despite the ups and downs of the farming industry, Jackson said that “there’s so much opportunity. Maine is a great place to be a farmer.”

In northern Maine, for instance, Jackson said some smaller farms have been consolidating to become larger in order to obtain economies of scale. When farms are larger, Jackson said, they can afford more mechanization and efficient modes of production.

In southern Maine, Jackson said it has been diversification, agritourism, and the cultivation of niche markets that have best boosted some farms.

“Diversified farms are a little bit more resilient,” Jackson said. Compared to commodity crops, which are all or nothing, Jackson said diversified farms could have another crop to fall back on.

Jackson said the Maine farming industry has “people who are innovating,” making “value-added” products, like turning high-quality milk into yogurt and cheese and selling that as well. According to Jackson, this does particularly well for farmers in southern Maine because of the region’s tourists who visit agricultural sites.

Penny Jordan of Jordan’s Farm in Cape Elizabeth, a mixed vegetable farm with a farm stand, agreed.

‘AGRITOURISM IMPORTANT’

“Agritourism is an important part of every farmer’s business model. It’s a way of creating visibility for what happens on a farm. People want to connect with the land, with the product,” Jordan said. “I even see a farm stand as a form of agritourism because they are getting the experience of being on a farm and seeing where their food comes from.”

Jordan, who founded the Cape Farm Alliance, a cooperative of Cape Elizabeth farmers and community members, said that while “there has been an increase in farms in Cape Elizabeth that are on the smaller scale,” midsized farms like Maxwell’s and her own are at risk.

Fox Run Farm, an 11-acre blueberry farm on Ocean House Road in Cape Elizabeth, closed in November. Patt Bothel, one of the owners, said in an email that the “farm closed due to family financial disputes,” and that the plot of land “is currently under contract.”

Caitlin Jordan, a distant cousin of Penny Jordan, recently took over operations at Alewive’s Brook Farm in Cape Elizabeth and said that “it’s incredibly difficult to make a living as a farmer.”

Caitlin Jordan cited the unpredictability of the weather and the cost of labor and supplies. “All of those costs continue to go up, but people don’t want to pay more for their carrots or for their tomatoes,” she said.

When asked about the farm’s possibility of closing, shea said they “talk about it all the time. Can we keep going? Can we make a living off this?”

Both Jordans emphasized the role customers play in ensuring farms stay afloat. “You need to have more customers willing to come out and support the farms,” Caitlin Jordan said.

“It’s not just about preserving farmland, it’s about supporting local farms. Farmers need to sell food even when it’s raining,” Penny Jordan said. “Maxwell’s closing is an example that can be used to say, pay attention people, because this can happen in any community.”